The three winning stories can be read here – and your congratulations for their success shared beneath:

1st prize went to Anne Howkins for:

Origami Wings

I held Alice’s right hand as she
died.

‘Ten out of ten,’ she’d
whispered, ‘my work is done.’

Her left hand uncurled,
liberating an intricately folded paper butterfly.

For weeks, Alice had
painstakingly taught my stuttering fingers to fold and shape, while hers
trembled with pain as the illness took hold.

A year later, I sit on our
favourite park bench, legs hollow from the climb, a box at my feet.

It’s the bench our mums sat on
complaining of absent feckless men, morning sickness, piles, teething and
sleepless nights, and the joys of first words, first steps, first days at
school.

The bench Alice and I sat on, sharing
the spoils of daring teenage light-fingeredness, relishing the guilty thrill;
the bench we sat on while the lads gawped and whistled; the bench where we had
our first kiss.

It’s the proper April day I’d
hoped for – sun, a fractious breeze, fluffy clouds lolloping across a crystal
sky – an Alice blue and yellow kind of day.

I open the box, setting the
folded paper rustling, as if the birds and butterflies need to be off to
explore the world, ready to take Alice with them.

When the trees shake their leafy
heads, I toss handfuls of bright colour upwards into the gusty wind, watching
them flutter and soar, trailing specks of grey sand in their wake.

Below me a little girl jumps to catch a yellow butterfly.

*****

2nd prize was awarded to Lorna Flanagan for her submission:

Dereliction of Duty

I found myself in the sprawling
old residence of a family of semi-aristocrats. The owner struck me as rough and
ready, but civil enough.

‘My aunt,’ he explained, ‘is disabled.
She is looked after devotedly by a well-respected employee, who guards her job
jealously.’

I felt I’d been given a warning. He showed me into the garden and then hurried indoors to answer a phone call. I saw the lady alone in her wheelchair on the lawn. It started to rain quite heavily. I knew I should wheel her into the house, but hesitated about encroaching on the duties of the devoted and well-respected employee, who might not take kindly to my interference. But this person was nowhere in sight. Then she came running out into the rain, shouting at me for not doing what I would otherwise have done without a second thought.

*****

Nick Hamlyn took 3rdprize for his piece:

It’s Only Rock ’n’ Roll

Andy, our singer, sat on his own
in the corner of the store cupboard that served as a dressing room. The barman
had given him a nearly-full bottle of tequila – the best present that someone
who had already downed several pints of lager at home could imagine getting. It
was a prestige gig, with a scout from a big record company coming to check us
out. Andy was nervous – we all were – but only Andy was drinking. Keith, our
drummer and leader – well, he had at least managed to get us the gig – checked
his watch.

“I reckon it’s time we went on,”
he said, “you ready, Andy?”

Our singer put his empty bottle
on the floor and staggered to his feet.

“Course I am,” he said, rather
more loudly than he needed to, in such a small room.

On stage, I silently checked my
guitar with the tuner, watching while Andy hung on to his microphone stand as
though a gale-force storm was starting to rage.

“Hi!” he bellowed into the mic, “we’re the best band you’ve ever heard in your life!” He let go of the stand, raised his hand to count us in – and tumbled off the stage.

*****

I hope everyone has sharpened pencils in time for the next contest in February – plenty of time to practice and fancy your chances…

For a first competition there were pleasing numbers of contestants and the standard of work encouraging. A big Thank You!!! to all contributors, it was a pleasure to read your work.

I hope you will all persevere, tweak your work and keep braving the many contests out there – not forgetting I also hope to discover your names on the lists for subsequent contests here at 11 Sentences Rock, too.

The shortlist runs as follows (in first name alphabetical order)

Origami Wings – Anne Howkins

Trees in the Park – Katherine Murray

Dereliction of Duty – Lorna Flanagan

It’s Only Rock ’n’ Roll – Nick Hamlyn

Silent Sorrys – Sherry Morris

Congrats and thanks once again, the next contest will open later this year for a final submission date on 11th February 2020

This is our first contest and we’d be over the moon if you could be pioneer and submit some of your work for it. There are plans afoot to run the contest twice yearly and compile the best in an annual anthology. This will include winners, runners-up and shortlisters. Not only that but we are toying with the notion of a podcast or a live facebook event in which writers can read their own work. I tell you, that is rewarding!

6. No consultation about entries or final decision will be entered into.

7. Results will be announced 11th September, winners will be notified the week before.

8. 11 Sentences is a strict requirement for the content of your story, ignoring this will lead to disqualification.

9. Submissions must be your own work and must not have won prizes in other contests

10. Submissions must not have been published

11. Adjudication shall be a great pleasure

Entry fee: £5 for a single entry, £10 for three submissions, submit your work as per instructions above. A Paypal request for the relevant fee will be sent to you. Upon payment your submission/s will be entered into the contest.